Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-10-14
ALLAN QUARTERNAIp.
OR
A BROWNING CITY

On the brow of this precipice stood
great building of the same granite that
formed the cliff, built on three sides of q
square, the fourth side being open, save
for kind of battlement pierced at its base
By little door. This imposing place we
afterward discovered was the palace Of the
queen or rather of the queens. At the
back of the palace the town sloped gently
upward to "A flashing building OF white
marble crowned by the golden dome
which VIC had already observed. The city
was, with the exception of this one build
ing, entirely built Of red granite, and laid
out In regular blocks with splendid road
ways between So far as we could see,
also, the houses were all one-storied and
detached, with gardens round them, which
gave SONS relief to the eye wearied with
the sight of red granite At the back of
the palace, road of extraordinary width
stretched away up the hill for a distance
If "A mile and half or 50, and appeared
to terminate mt All open face surrounding
the cleaning building that crowned the
hill. But right in front of US was the
crowniuewOndcra and glory Of Milosis-the
great staircase Of the palace, the magnifi-
cence of which fairly took our breath
away. Let the reader imagine, If lie can,
n splendid stairway, siXty-iive feet from
balustrade to balustradc consisting of two
vast flights each Of one hundred and
twenty five steps Of eight inches in height
by three feet broad connected by fiat
rcsting-place sixty feet In length, and run
ming from the palace wall on the edge Of
the precipicc down to meet n waterway,
or canal, cut to its foot from the river.
This marvellous staircase was supported
upon a single enormous granite arch, Of
which the resting place between the two
flights formed the crown; that is, the CON
Meeting open space lay upon it. From this
archway sprang subsidiary flying arch,
or, rather, something that resembled
flying arch in shape, such rs none Of us
had seen in any Other country, and OF
which the beauty and wonder surpassed
all that we had ever imagined. Three
hundred feet from point to point, and no
less than five hundred and fifty round the
curve, that half-arc scared, touching the
bridge it supported for n space Of fifty feet
only, one end resting on and built into the
parent archway, and the other imbcdded
in the solid granite Of the side Of the prcci-
pice.
This staircase and its supports formed,
indeed, n work of which any living man
might have been proud, both on account
Of its magnitude and surprising beauty.
-Four times, as we uftcrward learnt, did
the work, which was commenced in re-
mote antiquity, fail II was then abarl-
doned for three centuries, when half fin
ished, till ut last there arose a youthful
engineer named Radcuas, who said that
hc would complete it successfully, and
staEcd his life upon it. If he failed, he
was TO be hurled from the preCipiCe he had
undertaken To scale; if he succeeded, he
was to be rewarded by the hand of the
kiu%'s daughter. Five years was given to
him to complete the work, and an unlimit-
ed supply of labor and material. Three
times did his arch fail; and ut last, seeing
failure To be inevitable, he determined to
commit suicide ON the morrow of the third
collapse That night, however, n beauti-
full woman came to him in a dream and
touched his forehead, and of II sudden he
saw Il vision of the completed work, and
saw, too, through the masonry, and how
the difficulties connected with the flying
nrch, TINT had hitherto balIlcd his genius,
were to be overcome. Then he nwOkc and
once more commenced The work, but ON n
different plan, ami behold! he achieved it;
and on the last day Of the five years he led
liz II Ms VI l'l'1 WI tl ltllI ilil'l III
tO the palace. In due course he hcCame
king by right of his wife, and founded the
present Hu-ycndi dynasty, which is to this
dry called the House of the Stairway"
thus proving once more how energy and
talent are the natural stepping stones to
grandeur; and to commemorate his tri-
umph he fashioned u statue of himself
dreaming, and of the fair woman who
touched him on the forehead, and placed
it in tho great hall Of the palace; and there
il stands To this day.
such was the great stair OF Mlusis, and
such the city beyond. No wonder they
called il the "FroWning City, for certainly
those mighty works in solid granite did
seem to frown down upon our littleness in
their sorIber splendor This was So even
in the sunshine; but when the storm clouds
gathered on her imperial brow, Milusis
looked more like a supernatural dwelling
place, or some imagining of II poets brain,
thaa what she is-a mortal city, carved by
the patient genius of generations out of
the red silence of the mountain side.